Music

LOS ANGELES — In a new music video that was filmed in just one take, Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot wears riot police gear in a grave while being smothered in thick soil to represent the unrest in Russia and Eric Garner's death in the U.S.

"We were very well prepared to shoot this video, given that in 2014 we were being consistently buried alive by the annexation of Crimea, by the militaristic Russian Spring and the war in the southeast of Ukraine along with its numerous casualties," Nadezhda "Nadya" Tolokonnikova and Maria "Masha" Alyokhina told Mashable via email. The singers say this "I Can't Breathe" video is the first of a set of songs dedicated to the topic of war.

Both Pussy Riot members were arrested for hooliganism in February 2012 after they staged an anti-Vladimir Putin performance inside an Orthodox cathedral. They were sentenced to two years in prison and released in December 2013 under a Kremlin-backed amnesty bill.

Pussy Riot recorded "I Cant Breathe" in New York City during the protests against police brutality in December 2014 with co-writers Richard Hell, Nick Zinner, Andrew Wyatt, Shahzad Ismaily, Jack Wood and Scofferlane.

Q&A with Pussy Riot's Nadya and Masha

Mashable: What does being buried alive in this video symbolize in the grand scheme of social justice and what overall message are you trying to send?

Pussy Riot: We can see currently that Russia is being buried alive. After what occurred in 2014 our nation will never be viewed the same way again by the rest of the world.

If freedom could speak, it would say about Russia, "I cannot breathe." During the course of 2014, almost all of the independent media were destroyed. Dozens of political activists received real prison sentences. Under the effect of propaganda of military action in the east of Ukraine, as it was initiated by Putin, many young men went to fight and were consequently killed in action. Their bodies were buried in secret, remaining nameless. We, the people who live in Russia, cannot breathe. We continue to be buried alive, yet we do not resist. Our will to resist was taken away from us.

We wish to demonstrate the banality, the commonness of a situation in which dirt is shoved down our throats on a daily basis. Yet we cannot stand up to resist because the regime turned out to be stronger. Despite this, the situation in which society finds itself being smothered is quite common, universal in nature. Any one of us can be faced with injustice doled out by the government machine. Take the case of Eric Garner in point. The cop who killed him didn’t intend to do so. Nevertheless, this is a life that was lost. We call upon everyone to remember this —that those ordained with power by the government are able to take innocent lives. We support efforts to control the powers which nations of the world give to their respective military forces.

Why is pairing Pussy Riot and this social issue involving Eric Garner important when taking into account the group's history with law enforcement in Russia?

We spent two years in prison and we are regularly faced with unauthorized use of force by police in Russia. The issue of police violence and the authority with which they operate is a serious matter of contention to us. Police forces which will be used to disperse peaceful protests and be used to persecute political activists must instead be redirected towards maintaining the people’s safety.

The death of Eric Garner, which occurred in the United States, on a different continent, encouraged us to take part in the protests in New York. It is very important for us to see and understand protests in countries where the political will of the government is not directed at rooting out those protests. Protests inspire us.

Having witnessed thousands of people on the streets on New York, having heard their slogans, we felt inspired to create a song dedicated to those people. Our song is a song of remembrance and protest at the same time. We wish to convey the message that there are things which are of universal importance to us. Therefore, national boundaries are irrelevant when we speak of these universal things. Murder is murder everywhere and should not be met with indifference. Every life which is either accidentally or intentionally taken away by the hands of a government regime must be remembered and must evoke serious protest.

How did it feel filming the buried alive footage and what emotions did experiencing?

Each day, you open the news and see a fresh portion of hell which you cannot do anything about, you feel a lot more powerless than when you're being buried alive in the cold winter soil covered with snow. In 2014, we scolded ourselves about not having done all that was in our power to do, about not having done the impossible, about not having prevented this war. The video was shot in one scene.

From the moment the song begins and until the moment it ends we are being buried under a thick layer of soil. When soil first gets into your mouth you instinctively try to spit it out, but soon you understand that this is futile. You then fill your lungs with air as much as you can and shovel after shovel you descend into the ground. With each shovel you feel the extra weight being placed on top of you. Quickly you realize that you can no longer move or get out and that without outside help you will be left in this grave forever. The making of this video was only possible because of the limitless trust we placed in our friends who remained above ground during our burial.

What role does music play in social change and who are some other musicians you see taking a stand nowadays?

We grew up with the idea that culture cannot be detached from real life. We were influenced by Russian avant-garde of the 20th century as well as by Russian cinematographic tradition of the soviet period. We were taught by the type of rhetoric which was forcibly spoken by the art and media scene of the late soviet period under Brezhnev, the type of rhetoric which we see returning to Russia in 2014. We are the children of Perestroika, a time of political hopes and changes within Russia, a time when Russian Rock first took root. In rock music, the concept of what it means to be a citizen in the political sense of the word is inseparable from the music itself. To us, there is no such thing as rock music without political undertones.

After we were convicted and sent to prison, we became convinced that even today musicians are still a political force as powerful as politicians themselves, perhaps even more so. Paul McCartney, who personally wrote a letter asking for our early release. Kathleen Hanna, Bjork and Madonna urged for our release from onstage. Yoko Ono, who awarded us with a prize for peace. As we sat in a glass cage or in a prison somewhere at the edge of our country, all of these people gave us more support than any politicians who may have discussed our case behind closed doors. This is because public transparency in political affairs means so much more than any possible compromises struck behind closed doors. Transparency inspires. We would like to see more musicians who express the views of civil society. Such musicians are the face of any country.

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